Commuters suffer in traffic mess
Four hours after a Dhaka court granted bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan led a huge procession demanding her arrest, blocking the main thoroughfare in the capital causing sufferings of thousands of city dwellers.
Starting from Manik Mia Avenue around 4:00pm, the nearly one km long procession went down the Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue towards Suhrawardy Udyan, triggering a domino effect that saw long tailbacks for several hours on all major streets, including Rokeya Sarani and Mirpur Road.
Locals said large numbers of people under the banner of “Sramik Karmachari Peshajibi Muktijoddha Samanway Parishad” had started gathering on Manik Mia Avenue around 1:00pm.
Rafiul Rabbi, a private sector employee, used every feasible detours to reach Farmgate from Dhaka Medical College to attend a meeting.
Seeing a long tailback at Shahbagh, he avoided the straight route, and drove towards Matshya Bhaban to take the Kakrail-Shanti Nagar- Mouchak route. But to his utter dismay, all the streets were equally clogged. Finally, he got down from his car at Moghbazar and walked.
"Yet I could not reach Farmgate in time for the meeting," said Rabbi.
Romana got on a bus at Karwan Bazar around 5:00pm to go to her Uttara home.
For 45-minutes she watched the procession pass from her bus standing still on the avenue among a queue of vehicles.
"I do not know if I'll get home today. I have been facing traffic jams throughout the day," she told The Daily Star.
In the morning, police had redirected vehicles on several streets for Khaleda's safe passage to the court, which created heavy traffic on streets.
By afternoon when it seemed the tailbacks might finally ease, the shipping minister's procession diminished all hope.
"I do not want to be sandwiched between the activities of the two parties," said Raju Ahmed, who was waiting to catch a bus for about 45 minutes at Khamarbari.
Imtiaz Ahmed, student of Titumir College, was desperately looking for a bus to go to Sadarghat from Farmgate.
"I do not care who brought it out and why. These processions only cause public suffering for the benefit of politicians," he told The Daily Star.
Holding two heavy shopping bags in two hands, a civil servant was seen looking for a bus to go to Karwan Bazar.
"I needed groceries, so I did not take the staff bus thinking that I would take a local bus to get home. But all the buses are packed as they were stuck halfway through their trips because of the procession and the resulting tailback," said the government employee wishing to remain anonymous.
Comments